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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: hand · capital · fall · perch · ground · row · clip · bowl

  1. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. fall — to drop
  3. row — a line
  4. fall — to drop
  5. hand — help
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. hand — in cards
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. clip — to cut
  13. perch — the fish
  14. ground — a position
  15. capital — a city
  16. capital — money
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. ground — the earth
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. row — to paddle
  22. clip — a video
  23. ground — crushed
  24. clip — for paper

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com